Abstract

Since 2020, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) systems have increasingly functioned as co-authors within 
creative practice, reshaping established understandings of authorship, originality, and aesthetics. This study 
critically examines the evolving role of GenAI in artistic production across visual arts, literature, music, 
performance, and multimodal creation. It situates GenAI within theoretical traditions of authorship, drawing on 
Foucauldian and post-structuralist perspectives, while interrogating the implications of machine participation in 
processes traditionally reserved for human creativity. The analysis explores shifting notions of originality in an 
era of algorithmic recombination and data-driven generation, highlighting tensions between novelty, replication, 
and cultural reuse. It further considers aesthetic evaluation in AI-augmented works, focusing on criteria such as 
contextual significance, novelty, replicability, and human–machine collaboration. Legal, ethical, and institutional 
dimensions are also addressed, particularly concerning attribution, intellectual property, bias, and accountability. 
Through case-based reflections on contemporary creative practices, the study demonstrates how GenAI operates 
not merely as a tool but as an active participant in iterative creative processes. Ultimately, it argues that GenAI 
does not abolish traditional frameworks of creativity but instead transforms and extends them, requiring new 
conceptual, pedagogical, and policy-oriented approaches to authorship in the digital age.